Beckwith, Anna M. Logan
Birth Year
: 1884
Death Year
: 1964
Mrs. Anna M. Logan Beckwith was a pharmacist in Cincinnati, OH. In 1928, she purchased the Peerless Pharmacy, located on Alms and Chapel Streets. Beckwith was considered a leading member of the Colored citizens in Cincinnati and is mentioned in Negro Employment in Retail Trade: a study of racial policies in the department store, drugstore, and supermarket industries, by Bloom, Fletcher, and Perry. Beckwith is also included in The Negro in the Drugstore Industry, by F. M. Fletcher. Anna Beckwith was born in Berea, KY, the daughter of Elijah and Amanda Logan. The family of six is listed in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census; Elijah Logan was a widower. Anna Logan moved to Cincinnati in 1903. She was the wife of Carl Beckwith, a mail carrier (1881-1971) from West Virginia. In 1910 the Beckwith family lived at 5304 Central Avenue in Madisonville, OH, [source: William's Hamilton County Directory for 1909-10]. The household included Anna, Carl, their daughter, and Anna's brother, Phocia [or Foshen] Logan (b. 1882 in KY), a barber who owned his own shop [source: 1910 U.S. Federal Census]. By 1920, the Beckwiths had a second daughter and the family lived in Cincinnati, OH. Anna Beckwith was still managing her drugstore in 1930 [source: U.S. Federal Census], and the family had moved to Wyoming, OH. Anna and Carl Beckwith are listed in William's Hamilton County (Ohio) Directory for the years 1939-1944, but there is no mention of the pharmacy. Anna Beckwith was a graduate of Berea College. For more see Cincinnati's Colored Citizens, by W. P. Dabney.
Subjects: Barbers,
Migration North,
Postal Service,
Pharmacists, PharmaciesGeographic Region: Berea, Madison County, Kentucky / Cincinnati, Ohio

Cocaine and Negroes in Kentucky, 1898-1914
Start Year
: 1898
End Year
: 1914
Cocaine was an accepted and easily accessible drug prior to 1914, it was also used in whiskey shots, syrups, tonics, cigars, nasal sprays, and many many other products. When it became illegal in 1914, classified as a hard narcotic, there was a very racist side to the prohibition. Dr. Christopher Koch from Pennsylvania warned, "Most of the attacks upon white women of the South are the direct result of the cocaine-crazed Negro brain." The fear of a crazy, super strong Black man on cocaine existed long before cocaine became illegal, the fear had intensified during the period of enforced segregation, challenges to voting laws, the push for Negro political, social, and civil rights, and increased lynchings in the South. During the last decade of the 1800s, crimes attributed to Negroes were often assumed to be linked to drug use. Police departments in the South began requesting larger caliber guns that could stop the so-called cocaine-crazed Negro. In Kentucky, July 1907, the State Board of Pharmacy began a crusade against druggist who sold cocaine to Negroes, it was an effort to stem the crime of supposed violence committed by Negroes in Kentucky and other Southern states. Warrants had been issued against druggists A. F. Solbrig and H. F. Cohn, Jr., both from Louisville. In 1903, The Cincinnati Lancet-Clinic, a journal, suggested that it was the Negro and prostitutes (the lower class persons) who were most likely to have a cocaine habit, and Negroes with habits were most likely to commit crimes. But rather than hang the Negro, the article stated that it was the white druggist who should be hanged for selling cocaine to Negroes. It was also said that the states of Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Indiana, were thought to have many of the "medico-pharmaceutical rascals," and supposedly, things had gotten so bad in Kentucky that the once loyal Colored servants could no longer be trusted. In 1898, the Bulletin of Pharmacy warned that there was a cocaine-craze among Negroes taking place in Louisville, Lexington, and Shelby County. For more see the video recording titled Hooked: illegal drugs and how they got that wayby the History Channel et. al.; Dr. E. H. Williams, "Negro cocaine fiends are a new Southern menace," The New York Times, 02/08/1914, p.SM12; Snowblind: a brief career in the cocaine trade by R. Sabbag; White Mischief: a cultural history of cocaine by T. Madge; "Anti-cocaine crusade," The Pharmaceutical Era, 1907, vol.38, p.116 [available online at Google Book Search]; "The Cocaine Curse and the Negro," The Cincinnati Lancet-Clinic, 1903, vol.89, pp.599-602 [available online at Google Book Search]; and "Horrible," Bulletin of Pharmacy, 1898, vol.12, p.139 [available online at Google Book Search].
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care,
Corrections and Police,
Pharmacists, PharmaciesGeographic Region: Kentucky

Duncan, Alzona John
Birth Year
: 1871
Death Year
: 1950
Duncan was one of the very few African American pharmacists in Kentucky in the early 1900s. He was born in Bowling Green, KY, in 1871. In 1900, he was managing a drug store in Columbus, OH, while a boarder at a home on N. Champion Avenue, according to the U.S. Census. He was the husband of Julia Jones Duncan (1884-1953), who was born in Ohio. In 1910, the family of six was living in Covington, KY, on W. Tenth Street; Alzona Duncan was owner of a drug store. By 1916, the Duncan family was living in Louisville, KY, where their youngest daughter, Lucie L. Duncan, was born on August 8, according to the Kentucky Birth Index [see the Lucie Lennora Duncan Beverly entry in The Black Women in the Middle West Project by D. C. Hine, et al.]. The family lived in Little Africa, where Alzona Duncan owned and operated a drugstore. He was also recognized as mayor of the community and was president of the Parkland Improvement Club. Little Africa was located in Louisville, KY. Alzona Duncan is listed in the 1939 and 1940 volumes of Caron's Louisville City Directory as living at 3621 Virginia Avenue and working as a pharmacist at Central Drug Company. The company had been established in 1932 by African Americans Frank L. Moorman and Dr. J. C. McDonald [see Moorman information on the University of Louisville Library website]. For more on Duncan in Little Africa see J. C. Pillow, "Parkland: Homestead was rise of Little Africa" at courier-journal.com, originally published in 1989.
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care,
Pharmacists, PharmaciesGeographic Region: Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky / Columbus, Ohio / Covington, Kenton County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

George, S. H.
Birth Year
: 1878
Death Year
: 1936
S. H. George was considered a wealthy physician, politician, and business man in Paducah, KY. He was born in Kentucky. His mother died when he was three years old, and S. H. George was forced to earn his way at an early age. He was a school teacher for several years, and later graduated from Walden University (TN) and Meharry Medical College. He returned to Paducah and opened his medical practice, and is listed in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census. He was the husband of Nettie McClaine (1889-1935), who was born in Decatur County, TN. Nettie was a trained nurse. The couple shared their home with Nettie's mother Susan Jobe Hoskin, according to the 1930 U.S. Federal Census. Dr. George was involved in several businesses, including a skating rink. August 1909, during the Emancipation Day celebration, Dr. George charged Daniel Hopwood with trying to pass a bad dollar at the Paducah Colored Skating Rink, located at 10th and Broadway; the rink was in financial trouble in 1909. The counterfeiting case against Hopwood was dismissed from the Paducah courts due to insufficient evidence. Several years later, Dr. George was a Kentucky delegate to the Republican National Convention. His first term was in 1920; the Kentucky Republican State Convention had been undecided as to which African American would be a delegate-at-large, and after a four hour discussion, Dr. George was selected. Also in 1920, Dr. George was co-owner of the newly incorporated Home Drug Company in Paducah. The other two owners were John W. Egester and C. M. Bolden. That same year, Dr. George was owner and manager of the Hiawatha Theater, a picture house at 432 S. 7th Street in Paducah. He paid $10,000 for the business. In 1927, in Washington D.C., Dr. S. H. George was re-elected Grand Esteemed Leading Knight of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order Of Elks of the World (IBPOEW); he was a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Pythian, a member of the Court of Calanthe, and vice president of the Pythian Mutual Industrial Association of Kentucky. In 1928, he was again a Republican National Convention delegate. Dr. S. H. George died June 23, 1936, his death notice is on p.155 in An Economic Detour by M. S. Stuart. Dr. George was a founding member, a stockholder, and a 21-year elected member of the board of directors of the Mammoth Life and Accident Insurance Company. For more see "Pick Kentucky delegates," New York Times, 03/04/1920, p.17; "No conviction in counterfeiting cases," The Paducah Evening Sun, 08/17/1909, p.3; see "S. H. George..." on p.16 in NARD Journal, v.30, 1920; African American Theater Buildingsby E. L. Smith; "J. F. Wilson re-elected head of Negro Elks," The New York Times, 08/26/1927, p.14; and see S. H. George in The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Raceedited by C. Richardson [available online at Internet Archive].
Subjects: Businesses,
Insurance Companies, Insurance Sales,
Medical Field, Health Care,
Politicians, Politics, Appointments & Elections,
Fraternal Organizations,
Pharmacists, Pharmacies,
Skating Rinks,
Theater: Companies, Education, Exhibitions, Performers, and Performances in KentuckyGeographic Region: Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky

Marble, Harriett Beecher Stowe
Birth Year
: 1885
Death Year
: 1966
Marble was the first African American woman pharmacist in Lexington, KY. She was born in Yazoo City, MS, the daughter of Solomon [or Saul] and Leah Ann Molette Marble. Harriett came to Lexington, KY, in 1921. Her pharmacy was located at 118 North Broadway, along with doctors' offices and an apartment on the third floor where Marble lived. Marble owned the building, which she had had renovated; the previous owners were Henry Ross and Jacob Speer, who owned the building when it had contained the People's Pharmacy, which opened in 1910. Today there is a KY Historical Marker at the building site. Several of Marble's family members also resided in Lexington: her sister Priscilla Marble Ford (1886-1924) died in Lexington, and her sister Lillie Marble Ray (b. 1883) owned a home at 170 Old Georgetown Street. Lillie deeded the home to Harriett in 1953. Harriett Marble was a graduate of Meharry Medical College. She made the top score on the test administered by the Mississippi State Board of Examiners in 1908 when she qualified for her pharmacy license. She was a pharmacist in Mississippi, Oklahoma, and at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute [now Tuskegee University] in Alabama, prior to coming to Kentucky. Marble and several family members are buried in the Cove Haven Cemetery in Lexington. This entry was submitted by Yvonne Giles. For more see M. Davis, "First female black pharmacist no longer forgotten," Lexington Herald-Leader, 02/08/2009; and the Harriett Beecher Stowe Marble entry in Who's Who of the Colored Race 1915.
Subjects: Businesses,
Medical Field, Health Care,
Migration North,
Pharmacists, PharmaciesGeographic Region: Yazoo City, Mississippi / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Merchant, Jesse, Sr.
Birth Year
: 1878
Death Year
: 1959
Born in Winchester, KY, Merchant was employed as a pharmacist at the U. S. Food Laboratory in Chicago in 1909 and later moved to the Department of Agriculture. He was also a civilian postmaster for the 10th U.S. Vol. Infantry in Lexington, KY, and Macon, GA, during the Spanish-American War. He was the son of Alpheus and Georgia A. Williams Merchant, and had attend high school in Lexington, KY. Merchant was a graduate of the Pharmacy College in Louisville, KY. He served as vice president of the Omaha Branch of the NAACP. Merchant was also a poet and is credited with composing "Back to My Old Kentucky Home" in 1906. He was the husband of Gladys Merchant and the couple had four children. The family lived on Wabash Street in Chicago, IL, according to the 1930 U.S. Federeal Census. Jesse Merchant, Sr. retired in 1950 from the federal alcohol tax unit, according to his obituary in the Chicago Daily Tribune, 05/08/1959. For more see the Jesse Merchant entry in Who's Who of the Colored Race, 1915 by F. L. Mather [available full view at Google Book Search].
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care,
Migration North,
Poets,
Postal Service,
NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People),
Pharmacists, PharmaciesGeographic Region: Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky / Chicago, Illinois

O'Rourke, James Ralph , Sr.
Birth Year
: 1913
Death Year
: 1999
In 2008, it was discovered that James R. O'Rourke, Sr. was the first African American graduate of the University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science. He graduated in 1957. Prior to his enrollment, O'Rourke had been named head librarian at Kentucky State University (KSU), a position he held from 1949-1975. Before coming to Kentucky, O'Rourke was a history instructor and served as head librarian of Stillman Junior College [now Stillman College]. O'Rourke was a 1935 graduate of Stillman Junior College, a 1947 sociology and economics graduate of Talladega College, and a 1947 graduate of Atlanta University [now Clark Atlanta University], where he earned a B.S. in Library Science. He had owned a drug store and a shoe repair shop. He had been a singer, an actor, a barber, a Pullman Porter, and shoe shiner. In Kentucky, he was a library leader. O'Rourke was the author of several articles and co-authored the Student Library Assistants of Kentucky (SLAK) Handbook, which was distributed throughout the United States and to some foreign countries. O'Rourke and C. Elizabeth Johnson, Central High School Librarian, had co-organized SLAK in 1952; it was the only state-wide organization of its kind in the United States. The organization was created to spark students' interest in library science and provided scholarship opportunities to seniors who planned to go to college. O'Rourke also led an annual workshop to assist public library employees in getting certification, and he provided library training. He was one of the first African American members of the Kentucky Library Association (KLA). He also held several positions in community organizations. He was a civil rights advocate and served as presiding chairman of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Lexington, KY, 1966-67. He was a member of the Governor's Planning Committee on Libraries, 1967-68, and co-chairman of the Lexington (KY) Librarians Association. O'Rourke was the last chairman of the Librarian's Conference of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, 1952-1956. He was a member of the American Library Association, the Southeastern Library Association, and the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He was a member of the Kentucky Black History Committee of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, and was a co-contributor to the Commission's publication, Kentucky's Black Heritage. He left Kentucky a few years after his retirement from KSU in 1975 and settled in North Carolina. James R. O'Rourke, Sr. was born in Tuscaloosa, AL, the oldest child of Sally Reese and Timothy R. O'Rourke. He was the husband of George M. Wright O'Rourke [also a UK Library School graduate, 1966], and the great-grandson of Evalina Love and Shandy Wesley Jones. Shandy Jones was a slave who was freed in 1820 and later became an Alabama Legislator, 1868-1870 [see Descendants of Shandy Wesley Jones and Evalina Love Jones by Pinkard and Clark]. This information comes from the vita and the memorial tribute to James R. O'Rourke, Sr., provided by Dr. James R. O'Rourke, Jr. In 2009, the University of Kentucky Libraries and the School of Library and Information Science nominated James R. O'Rourke for the Lyman T. Johnson Torch Bearer Award (posthumously) for his work and dedication to librarianship in Kentucky. The award was received by his son, Dr. James R. O'Rourke, Jr.
Subjects: Activists, Civil Rights,
Actors, Actresses,
Authors,
Barbers,
Education and Educators,
Librarians, Library Collections, Libraries,
Musicians, Opera, Singers, Song Writers,
Pullman Porters,
Fraternal Organizations,
Pharmacists, Pharmacies,
Shoes: Finishers, Makers, Repairers, Shiners, StoresGeographic Region: Tuscaloosa, Alabama / Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / North Carolina

Palmer, Zirl A.
Birth Year
: 1920
Death Year
: 1982
Zirl A. Palmer was the first African American to own a Rexall franchise in the United States. The store, located on Main Street in Lexington, KY, was bombed on September 4, 1968. Palmer was also the first African American pharmacist in Lexington and the first African American to become a member of the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees, named to the board by Governor Wendell Ford. Palmer was a graduate of Bluefield State College and Xavier University of Louisiana College of Pharmacy. For more hear the Zirl Palmer interview (info.) in the Blacks in Lexington Oral History Project at the University of Kentucky Special Collections; and "University of Kentucky. Board of Trustees," Lexington Leader, 08/24/1972, p. 1.

See photo image of Zirl Palmer in the Kentucky Digital Library Image Collections.

Read about the Zirl A. Palmer oral history interview available in the University of Kentucky Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, item record in the SPOKE Database.
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care,
Pharmacists, PharmaciesGeographic Region: Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Polk, John Knox
Birth Year
: 1882
Death Year
: 1936
John K. Polk was a physician who ran his own hospital in Lexington, KY. Dr. Polk opened his medical practice at 148 Deweese Street, maintaining it on his own from 1921 to 1931, and was later joined by Dr. J. R. Dalton. The Polk-Dalton Pharmacy was also located within the same building as the hospital, which is still standing -- Kentucky Historical Marker #1928 notes the importance of the operations. Dr. Polk was the husband of Annie Chandler Polk. He was from Versailles, KY, where he attended the colored common school, and he went on to graduate from medical school at Howard University. Dr. Polk died in Lakeland, FL, where he had moved due to his health. Dr. Polk was the son of James and Carrie Polk, and according to the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, the family of eight lived on Lexington Street in Versailles, KY. [His father, James Polk, was a preacher.] For more see "Dr. John Polk Dies," Woodford Sun, 03/19/1936; "Markers celebrate Deweese Street history," Lexington Herald-Leader, section B, 09/13/04; "Clinic named for 2 black doctors," Lexington Herald-Leader, City/Region section, 03/05/2008, p.B2; and Who's Who in Colored America, 1927. Additional information and sources provided by Brenda Jackson.
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care,
Hospitals and Clinics: Employment, Founders, Ownership, Incidents,
Pharmacists, PharmaciesGeographic Region: Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky / Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky / Lakeland, Florida

Rice, Richard A.
Birth Year
: 1887
Born in Russellville, KY, Richard A. Rice was a lawyer and pharmacist. He was the acting attorney for the Jersey Central Porters who were connected with the Jersey Central Railroad. His law office was located in Jersey City in 1920, and he was a boarder with the Dowers Family [source: U.S. Federal Census]. In 1942, Rice was living in Hackensack, NJ, and his law practice was operated from his home at 277 First Street [source: Rice's WWII Draft Registration Card]. Rice was the son of Calvin and Julia Bearing Rice. He was a graduate of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. For more see Who's Who in Colored America, 1933-37.
Subjects: Lawyers,
Medical Field, Health Care,
Migration North,
Pullman Porters,
Pharmacists, PharmaciesGeographic Region: Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky / Jersey City and Hackensack, New Jersey

Taylor, Vertner L.
Birth Year
: 1938
Vertner Taylor, born in Lexington, KY, was the first African American graduate of the University of Kentucky pharmacy program in 1960. He is also a graduate of old Dunbar High School in Lexington, KY, and earned his undergraduate degree at Xavier University. In 1961, Taylor was the first African American pharmaceutical sales representative for E. R. Squibb and Sons in Chicago, the company was founded in 1892. Taylor was also the associate director of pharmacy at the University of Chicago. He returned to Kentucky where he helped establish the Hunter Foundation for Health Care, and was director of health services for the Kentucky Corrections Cabinet. Today he is the Corrections Commissioner of Kentucky, a position he has held since 2001. For more see M. Davis, "Psychiatrist carries rich legacy from Lexington - Taylors cherish promise of education," Lexington Herald-Leader, 03/21/2010, City Region section, p.B1; E. A. Jasmin and A. Etmans, "Black UK graduates to honor school's 'Waymakers' of '60s," Lexington Herald-Leader, 10/01/1993, City/State section, p.B3; and the online article "Chicago drug firm hires 1st Negro salesman," Jet, 11/02/1961, p.51.

White, Randolf Franklin
Birth Year
: 1870
Death Year
: 1943
Dr. Randolf F. White was a prominent pharmacist in Owensboro, KY, serving both white and African American customers. He was one of the first African American pharmacists in Daviess County. Dr. White was born in Warrington, Florida, the son of Moses and Massie White. His wife, Fannie H. White, was born in Kentucky. Dr. White and his wife are listed in both the 1920 Daviess County Census and the 1920 U.S. Federal Census. In 1913, Dr. White was named president of the Pharmaceutical Section of the National Medical Association. He had been a druggist in Lexington, KY, and came to Owensboro in 1901, where he operated his drug store for 24 years. White's Drug Store was located at 812 West 5th Street. As a young man, John T. Clark, of the Urban League, had been a pharmacist during the summers at White's Drug Store. In 1925, Dr. White sold his pharmacy to Miley R. Coffield. By 1930, Dr. White and his wife lived in Louisville, KY, at 2504 W. Madison Street. Dr. White owned a drugstore and his wife Fannie was a school teacher [source: 1930 U.S. Federal Census]. Dr. Randolf F. White died on January 1, 1943 [source: Kentucky Death Certificate]. Arrangements were handled by the J. B. Cooper Funeral Home, and Dr. White was buried in the Zachery Taylor National Cemetery. He was a veteran of the Spanish-American War. For more see "The Pharmacy conducted by Dr. R. F. White ...," The Savannah Tribune, 02/07/1914, p. 4; Dr. R. F. White in "Enterprising Owensboro" in Freeman, 06/30/1906, p. 6; Dr. R. F. White on p. 347 under the heading "Pharmaceutical Section" in the Journal of the National Medical Association, 1914, vol. 5, no. 4; "Southern States," The Pharmaceutical Era, 1925, vol. 60, p. 379; and the paragraph at the bottom of column 1 and the top of column 2 of the article "Past Week at Louisville," Freeman, 10/07/1911, p. 1.
Subjects: Medical Field, Health Care,
Migration North,
Military & Veterans,
Pharmacists, PharmaciesGeographic Region: Warrington, Florida / Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky / Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky

Wilson, William H.
Birth Year
: 1879
Wilson, born in Murray, KY, was a school teacher, a pharmacist, and a physician. He was the son of Lina Beauraguard. Wilson was a graduate of State Normal School in Frankfort, KY; a 1903 graduate of Berea College; and received his M.D. from the University of Illinois, College of Medicine in 1910. He taught public school for 12 years, then was a pharmacist in Chicago before moving back to Kentucky to practice medicine, first in Clayton, then in Henderson. For more see the William H. Wilson entry in Who's Who of the Colored Race, by F. L. Mather [available full-text at Google Book Search].
Subjects: Education and Educators,
Medical Field, Health Care,
Pharmacists, PharmaciesGeographic Region: Murray, Calloway County, Kentucky / Chicago, Illinois / Clayton, Kentucky / Henderson, Henderson County, Kentucky